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...............--- Re-Working The Front of the Trailer ---
................--- More on the "Mac-Bump" ( HERE ) ---
The bunks that we had put on the trailer just after buying the boat had made launching and retrieving the boat almost idiot proof, even in windy conditions and we loved the mod.
Then I made the two bow anchor rollers, top arrow below, to make launching and retrieving the anchors easier. We were sure we would love them, but we never had time to launch the boat with them before making the 2200 mile trip down to Florida from Utah. Well the first launch turned into a real mess. The ramp was good, but steep and when the trailer was backed into the water at All American Covered Boat Storage the trailer went down and in at a steep angle. The boat sat flat on the water and when I released the bow strap on the trailer the anchors hooked onto the two bunk tubes that come to the front of the trailer. In the picture below that doesn't look possible, but it is.
Then I wasn't able to pull the boat back in with the winch as the winch handle hit the anchor and wouldn't turn. I was finally able to get the anchors off the bow and get the boat back up the ramp. There I unbolted the two bunk tubes and tied them down lower. Then the boat was re-launched with no problems. At the end of that 3+ week trip the boat came out without problems with the bunk tubes still tied down. We left the boat down in Florida on the trailer over the winter until we returned in March for a 2 month trip. We also left the bunk tubes tied down and re-launched and retrieved on that trip with no problems except one.
If you have a Mac you are probably well aware of the term "Mac Bump". You can pull the Mac right up to the "V" shaped rubber block on the front of the trailer with no problem in the water. Then as the boat comes out of the water it rocks back on the bunks and you end up with a gap between the bow of the boat and that rubber snubber block. I also wrote up another page on this ( HERE ) with pictures. The cure usually is to get a little speed up in the parking lot and slam the brakes on and the boat slides forward on the bunks and into the "V". Well that has never worked well with the Suburban for us. The anti-lock brakes seem to hinder that move from working. When we pulled down the boat was in the "V" as I had been working on the trailer and when we put the boat back on I got it up into the "V". After retrieving in Florida it was back a few inches (see the next two pictures below). On the way home I was able to get it forward a little by tightening the strap when we stopped, but could never get it all the way forward.
So two things needed to be changed on the trailer. One was to permanently relocate the bunk tubes lower at the bow of the boat/front of the trailer. The other was to come up with a way to get the boat into the "V". I'll fix the latter first below and then the bunk tube problem.
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Even with the anchors out of the rollers during launch and retrieving the roller brackets, top arrow, will catch the bunk tubes, middle arrow, if the ramp is steep. Also the winch handle, lower arrow, can hit the brackets if the trailer is down at a steep angle.
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The top arrow shows the gap between the boat and "V" snubber. I thought if I can't get the boat to the "V" maybe I can get the "V" to the boat. I removed the winch and cut the "V" bracket off at the arrow and left the channel attached to the ladder.
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Next a plate was welded across the back....
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.... of the "V" bracket so that there would be a flat surface there. It was then boxed in top and...
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.... bottom so that water couldn't get in there and start corrosion.
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A piece of 1 X 2 X .120 rectangular tubing was cut and slotted. Pieces were cut to fill the insides of the slot.
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They were inserted into the slot and wedged into place and tack welded together, but not to the 1 X 2.
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Next they were removed and finished welded, arrows, and re-inserted back into the ....
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.... the slot and welded and the welds ground down. Also the one end was boxed in with a piece of strap, right arrow. This piece was then welded to ...
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.... the "V" bracket on its backside.
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Welding the slot and the end again kept water out of the rectangular tubing and strengthened it some.
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A couple small tabs were also cut and ...
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... welded to the assembly, top arrow. The finished piece was then bolted to the channel on the ladder.
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It can slide back down against the ladder, left arrow, when retrieving the boat and then once the boat is on the trailer it can be slid up until the "V" snubber block is against the boat and the two 1/2 inch bolts tightened down.
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The bolts above were replaced with some a little longer and lock washers added above the nuts. It just takes a second to loosen the bolts and slide the assembly one way or another and the bolts hold it firmly in place.
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Next the winch was relocated so that the other piece could be slid fore and aft and also to get the handle down and away from the boat to avoid the problem of the handle hitting the anchors or the anchor roller bracket. Two pieces of steel were bent over some pipe in the workbench vise and ...
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... clamped in place. Lines were marked, arrows, along the ladder to indicate where they should be cut.
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Holes for 5/16th bolts were drilled in ...
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.... the brackets and in the ...
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... ladder. Then everything was temporarily bolted into place and given a trial run.
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The winch handle is now lower, but the pull angle on the boat is still good.
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Here the new parts are ready for paint.
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To lower the bunk tubes a U-shaped bracket was made that goes around the ladder diagonal support.
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A second bracket with a 90 degree bend in it was also bent up. Latter this might all be replaced with something that looks a little better, but ....
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... it works and holds the bunk tubes, top right arrow, down. The winch handle clears them and now the anchors and the roller brackets should also clear.
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One last thing needed to be modified. If the trailer was pulled with out the boat the bunk tubes would for some reason start to oscillate up and down. It didn't happen when the boat was on the trailer, but twice we had to pull the trailer some distance without the boat and I didn't like it, so made the brackets, arrows that tied the bunk tubes to the trailer rails. That solved the problem, but now they were too high. I cut them off and you will see below re-attached them to the bunk tubes.
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Here and ....
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... here are the new pieces after getting painted.
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Above all the new pieces are in place.
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The bracket welded to the ladder above with the two holes is where the bunk tubes use to attach. I'll probably cut it off later.
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The arrow points to the shortened side bunk tube support.
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The bunk tubes now slope down, but I feel they will still help to guide the boat in, but once the boat gets into the back two uprights it always has gone straight to the "V" snubber. We won't try this out until 2012, but I think it is all going to work fine.
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I had a stack of nuts under the bow roller, but since I seemed to now have the ...
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... height pretty well figured out I machined a couple aluminum spacers, but kept one nut on top of them just in case I wanted to lower the roller a little. I have it now so that the boat just rides against this roller when the bow strap is winched down. The roller does take the bow up to the "V" snubber thought when retrieving the boat and is a big help there.
After all of this gets a test run in and out of the water I'll try and post an up-date. I plan on pushing the "V" block bracket up against the ladder when loading the boat. I think then the boat will come forward another couple inches further while loading and still in the water, but will settle down up on land to where it would be after doing the "Mac-bump". Once out of the water I'll slide the "V" block against the boat and tighten it down.